


the satisfaction of being right

by curlydots



Category: DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Gay Chicken, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-23
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-08-16 22:17:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8119588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curlydots/pseuds/curlydots
Summary: Dick's got a competitive streak.





	

Dick wasn't really much of a drinker most of the time. He had a pretty bad reputation with the Titans for consistently passing out at parties while everyone else was still on their second drinks and he was comfortable enough with his status as a lightweight. But recently, very recently in fact, he’d gotten into the habit of grabbing a drink after missions. And really  _one_  drink after a long day of kicking super-villain butt wouldn't kill him. Or at least it hadn't yet. 

Dick swung his legs over the edge of the building and listened to the sound of police sirens below. He'd only gotten a few sips into his beer before he heard the soft sound of familiar boots on the gravel behind him. He grabbed one of his extra beers and stuck it over his shoulder, not bothering to turn around. “Want one?” he asked.

After a short pause he heard a grunt. Jason stepped out of the shadows, shoulders shrugged. “Yeah, what the hell?”

Dick grinned and passed Jason a beer when he sat down next to him. He dropped his helmet down at his side but kept his mask on. Getting to see his younger brother without the stupid thing was definitely at least half of the reason he'd brought the beer in the first place. This was the fourth time that Jason had just “happened” to be in the area after Dick had finished up a case and the third that Dick "happened" to bring along more beer then he could handle. Dick considered it a personal victory that Jason hadn't bothered arguing this time.

Jason wasn't all that chatty that night so Dick opted to leave him alone. Even if he was notorious for his banter Dick knew how to shut the hell up and enjoy the silence sometimes.

After a few mostly quiet minutes Dick stretched, before leaning back on his hands and his fingers brushed over Jason's. "Oh, excuse me." He pulled quickly away and Jason shot him a look over his beer.

"Oh no, God forbid I touch a dude. I might explode."

"Hey it didn't bother me,” Dick said. “It's not my fault you’ve got a reputation for being skittish."

"Skittish? What am I a cat?"

"I was gonna say a baby dear."

"Not all of us are okay with laying on the hugs every five seconds, Dickie."

"Okay, that's an exaggeration and you almost punched Bruce the last time he patted you on the back!"

"We’d just run into Scarecrow! You know, what?" He reached over and grabbed Dick's hand. "Fuck you."

Dick looked down, trying not to seem too surprised that they were suddenly holding hands. It might just have been all the beer but he was surprisingly comfortable with Jason holding his hand. It was chilly out, and Jason was weirdly warm where he'd clamped down on Dick’s fingers.

"So...you always try to break people's hands when you hold them?"

"Yeah, yeah. You're a big boy you can take it." After a pause Dick laughed. Jason shook his head. "Not taking that back. That was exactly how I wanted it to come out."

"I'm just saying," Dick said, still laughing, "You're doing a terrible job of holding my hand. I'm not feeling very wooed."

Jason squeezed his hand harder. "Okay, ow." Dick squeezed back. He was starting to think something was going to break when Jason switched his hold to entwine their fingers. And then keep squeezing.

"There we go,” Dick said, ignoring the loss of feeling in his fingers. “Now that's romantic."

"You know it, toots." Jason eyed him when Dick scooted closer. “Careful, Big Blue. Don't want anyone to see you holding hands with a bad guy, do you?”

“Are you telling me your sinister reputation wouldn't take a hit if someone saw you getting cuddly with a bat?”

“Just saying,” Jason said. He tossed back his beer, finishing the bottle. “You've got a lot more to lose by fucking around with me than I do, Dick.”

“Sounds like the excuse of a guy who's scared of intimacy,” Dick said, feeling a little mean for putting it out there but also enjoying himself too much to really care. Jason seemed to be taking the weird turn of their conversation in stride.

“I hope you aren't trying to out gay me because I've got myself a real competitive streak.”

“I know you can't tell because of the mask but I'm batting my eyes at you right now,” Dick said. “It's very cute.”

Jason stared down at him silently, and with so little distance between them it was easy to see the small muscles in his face move as he thought. It was moments like this where Dick really hated the entire Red Hood helmet. Reading people was half his job, and trying to figure Jason out has hard enough when he could look him in the eyes. At least with just his mask on Dick could see when his slightly startled expression morphed into a smirk.

“Yeah, well I'm rolling my eyes,” he said.

 

***

Jason was definitely acting weird.

He, Jason and Tim were stuck working together on a hostage case that night, which meant that Bruce had probably spent the evening briefing Tim, who had then relayed the full extent of the mission to Dick, and that Dick now had to listen as it was explained all over again to Jason because for some reason not only was he "in the area" but he wanted to help out. If that didn’t set off alarm bells now he was standing with the two of them on the rooftop, staring down at the map of the apartment building they’d be heading into and he looked like he might actually be paying attention.

Dick was crouched off to the side on his heels, resting his chin on his hands. He'd already heard everything that Tim needed to explain so he let himself zone out a little. Tim didn't seem all that worried about things not going according to plan and Dick was pretty sure that beneath his helmet Jason wasn't paying all that much attention either. But that was because Dick was sure that Jason was staring at him.

He couldn't exactly tell for sure but Jason's helmet might have been tilted just a smidge in the wrong direction for him to just be studying the map. He'd figured that out because  _he'd_  been staring at Jason off and on all night and had noticed when Jason’s gaze had shifted over slightly, and then suddenly turned away. He’d hardly spoken all night either, and was being downright polite to Tim, which was cause for concern all on its own. Dick might have been wrong, but he knew when to trust instincts. And if anyone was used to the feeling of being watched then it was him.

"Got it, I'll meet you there," Jason said, probably his longest sentence of the night. He nodded to Tim and Dick got to his feet, stretching his arms over his head. He didn't want to leave with whatever weird atmosphere was hanging over them but Jason was moving and he didn’t have time to corner him and talk. The last thought that went through his head was that the other night Jason hadn't objected to Dick getting into his personal space because it bothered him, but because he thought Dick wouldn't want to mess with his reputation. 

So Dick acted fast. He slapped Jason on the ass as he walked by.

Jason nearly jumping out of his skin was reason enough to consider that a success but he didn't give them a chance to talk about it. Instead he gave a very confused looking Tim a small wave and a “see you” before throwing himself off the side of the roof.

 _Well,_ he thought,  _the atmosphere is definitely different now._

 

***

Fundraising wasn't exactly Dick’s thing these days. It wasn't that he couldn't handle standing around in a fancy suit and flirting with debutantes, so much as it was the repetitiveness. When he'd been younger the highlights of the evening had been watching Bruce pretend to be a dumb playboy and the occasional chance to flirt with Barbara, but now he was mostly around as Bruce's placeholder. Which if he was being honest was kind of a bummer.

At least he'd been able to drag Tim, Cass, and Damian with him this time. Even if Damian was determined to be a grouch and Cass wasn't much of a conversationalist, their company was still nice. Everything else about the evening was mostly unremarkable. The crowd didn't seem all that unusual; a few dozen part-time philanthropist, a reporter or two in the crowd. Some guy  in a well fitted suit who was staring at him from the bar.

Dick did a double-take. Yes, that was definitely Jason, leaning against the bar on his elbows and waving a piece of shrimp on a fork. Dick cut through the crowd, trying to look natural about it.

When he reached Jason he sat down next on the stool next to him, staring. “You here to assassinate anyone?"

"Nope."

"Break into something? Beat information out of someone?"

"Nope, and already did that today."

"Some other scary, nefarious plot that I'd have to stop?"

"I stole a bottle of whisky about a minute ago," Jason said. "But that's about it for the evening."

Dick leaned back against the bar. What the hell did Jason get out of spending the evening at a stuffy party? He was considering outright asking Jason that but after getting another look at him he ended up asking something else. 

"Who knew you owned a suit?”

“I've got _a_  suit,” Jason said, loosening his tie. “For undercover things and crashing parties with half-decent shrimp. Up for a dance?”

“A what?”

“A dance. You know, music playing, rhythmic moving. I might even dip you if everything goes well.”

When his first instinct was to say  _hell yeah_ Dick figured he should probably think things over a bit. “Sounds romantic,” Dick said instead, wondering how he could stall on either a yes or no.

“Noooo," Jason said. "Just a couple of well-dressed bros sharing a slow dance at a fancy party.”

“So a bro-dance. A  _brance,_  if you will.”

“That was terrible.” Jason grinned and held out his hand. “You gonna brance with me or not? Unless you're scared of starting rumors in high society.”

“Maybe I'm just worried you won't be able to keep up, and was trying to be considerate,” Dick said. Why did everything he say just sound like more of a challenge? Flirting clearly came way too naturally to him.

“Considerate my ass. Bring it Dick-face.”

Dick stared at Jason's hand and thought  _oh well_ before sliding an arm through Jason's and pulling the two of them to the dance floor. If he was being an idiot then he might as well go all out.

Jason's hand landed right against his hip when the music started and he gave Dick a small wink.

He was a surprisingly good dancer. Dick remembered trying to teach him once back in his Robin days and discovering that even though the kid could handle himself in a fight as soon as he stepped out onto the dance floor he was all left feet. But somewhere in between those days and now he'd figured out what he was doing. He didn't even seem that self-conscious. Minus something that Dick wasn't even sure he wasn't imagining.

Dick leaned closer into Jason’s space, sliding his arm across his shoulders. Jason blinked at him, still dancing but...yup. Dick was right.

“Aw Jay, are you blushing?”

“The hell I am. Dance floor is just hot.”

“More like I'm hot. Wow, you are really red.”

“Okay, now I know you're fucking with me.” Jason rolled his eyes. “Besides,” he said, slipping his hand down  Dick’s back. “Who’s blushing now?”

“You, hot stuff.” Dick pulled back from Jason's grip enough to spin and then fell back into his arms with all the flair he could muster. If they weren't being stared at before they were definitely drawing some attention now.

Jason laughed. “Did you just spin yourself? I'm pretty sure that's my job.”

“Well you weren't doing it and I wanted to spin. The song is almost over, you gonna dip me or what?”

Jason grinned. “You only like me for my upper body strength.” True to his word Jason did dip him, which considering his weight, was pretty impressive and Dick threw his head back as he moved and wrapped one of his legs around Jason's calf. He may have let a giggle slip loose.

“Alright," Jason said. "I'm gonna go eat all of Bruce's expensive hors o'doeuvre. Thanks for the dance, cutie.”

“Anytime, babe.”

 

Dick grabbed a glass of champagne and had only leaned against the bar for a second before Tim and Cass were at his side.

“When did you and Jason become a thing?” Tim asked.

"We aren't a "thing"."

"Really? Because you know none of us are the kind of people who would care if you were dating a guy, right?"

“That's cool. But I'm not.”

Tim nodded. “Sure thing. I mean you were flirting the entire time - ”

“We weren't flirting. We were...arguing.”

“You were bickering like an old married couple. It was embarrassing. Cass, back me up here.”

“His hand was on your butt,” she said through a mouthful of shrimp.

"That to," said Tim.

“Well yeah, but that doesn't - ugh. Never mind.”

“And even if you  _aren't_ every socialite in Gotham probably thinks you and Jason are dating."

At that moment Damian joined their group, holding a champagne flute full of orange juice. “Who’s dating Todd?”

“Dick is,” said Cass.

“No he isn't - no I'm not.”

“That's absurd. Grayson is way out of his league.”

Tim and Cass both stared at him. Damian shrugged. “Objectively speaking, Grayson is better looking and less psychotic.”

“Okay, that's weirdly sweet Damian but we aren't going out.”

“You sure?” Cass asked.

“Yes.”

“Then why aren't you?" Tim asked. "I haven't seen you have that much fun at a party since Barbara stopped coming.”

“I,” Dick started. “I don't. Because I'm not - I'm not having this conversation with a bunch of teenagers!”

“Boo,” said Cass.

“If Grayson says he doesn't want to talk about it then it isn't up for discussion,” Damian said.

Cass made a quiet fart sound with her mouth.

Tim nodded. “What she said.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Dick said.

 

“So what's going on with you and Todd?” Damian asked as soon as the elevator doors shut.

Dick sighed. He should've know. “I thought we agreed this wasn't a conversation we were having.”

“Hmf. Maybe not in front of Drake and Cain but I'm hardly the rest of the family. You must know at this point that I am your brother and that you can always confide in me.”

Dick narrowed his eyes. “How much money did you bet Tim?”

“I have no idea what you're talking about and frankly I am appalled that you have so little faith in me that you would suspect - “

“Damian...”

Damian stared down at his shoes.“A decent amount more than my allowance allows for.”

“Unbelievable,” Dick muttered, shaking his head.

***

Dick heard his phone ringing from where he laid under the Batmobile. He groped the floor with his free hand, and slapped the speaker button.

“Hello?”

"Whatcha wearin' Big Blue?" Jason's voice said, a little static-y from the speakers.

Dick continued working and tried not to sound like he was  _too_  happy to hear Jason's voice. "Oh you know, my very sexy evening gear."

Jason scoffed. "Tight and blue?"

"You know it. How bout you, Jay? Something big, and red and - “

Dick heard someone quietly clear their throat and dropped his wrench with a clatter. He pushed his way out from underneath the car and found Alfred staring down at him with some concern. Tim was standing to his left mirroring Dick's own mortified expression. 

"Uh, I'll call you back," Dick said, grabbing his phone. "Sugar tits." He added before hanging up. Alfred silently placed a cup of coffee down on their work bench but Dick could feel a wave of sarcastic judgment hovering over him already.

"If I said this isn't what it looks like would you believe me?" Dick asked. 

"Well," Tim said. "It looks like the two of you two are in a relationship. And like you just won me a lot of money. But, it also looks like you've got some questionable taste."

 _You've got a lot more to lose by fucking around with me than I do, Dick_. Dick groaned. This was officially getting way messier than it was supposed to be. "Your support is really nice and all but I'm not dating Jason. I'm..." Dick thought. What the hell were they doing? 

Jason had been calling pretty often lately, and not always about cases. Half of their conversations were them making fun of each other, saying whatever they could you try to make the other uncomfortable - even when it clearly wasn't working much.

"Trying to prove a point,” Dick said finally.

Tim nodded slowly. “This point being..?”

“That I'm better than Jason?”

"I think everyone already knows you're comfortable with your sexuality. You don't run around in hot shorts until your 19 without people getting it. But sure. Good luck with that."

"Okay, wait that's not right," Dick said, rubbing his forehead. "I'm trying to-to..."

Alfred, who'd been passing quiet judgment over their conversation, finally spoke up. “Establish some odd new relationship with our dear estranged Master Jason though mutual teasing and incidental friendly contact?”

Dick snapped his fingers. “Yes, that! That's exactly what I'm trying to do!”

"Right," Tim said, grabbing his coffee. "Good luck with _that_ then."

“Thanks for the support Alfie.”

“Of course, Master Richard. Who am I to get in the way of anyone's ill-advised plans?”

 

***

One of the many great side effects of his weird new relationship with Jason was that where before he'd gone out of his way to give Jason his space, now he didn't need to bother. If he wanted to throw an arm over his shoulder and ruffle his hair he could. And the more time they spent doing whatever it was they were doing the more often that he got to have Jason touching him back, which he  genuinely loved. Jason was big and usually really warm, even during the winter, and he clearly enjoyed making Tim and Damian uncomfortable by calling him crude petnames and loudly return his affection. Even if Dick felt a little bad about it, Tim’s reaction to Jason roughly squeezing his ass when they'd been in the middle of breaking into a building had been priceless.

But despite all the fun they were having there was a an unspoken agreement between them that as soon as Bruce appeared everything stopped. Of course it had nothing to do with them, it was just a matter of not ending up dead. But apart from that the only thing approaching rules between them were that they both needed to be as embarrassing and over-affectionate as possible, but to cut back in any scenario where they might get stabbed. That didn’t necessarily mean that Dick could crash Jason’s stack-out when he was having a slow night but hey, a little spontaneity helped kept nightly brushes with death exciting.

When Dick found him Jason was sitting cross-legged on the fire escape of an abandoned apartment building with a pair of binoculars. Dick saw the flinch that went through him when Dick landed next to but luckily he didn't end up with any bullet holes. 

“Evenin’” Dick said dropping the bag he was carrying next to Jason. Jason made a low sound in his throat before turning back to his binoculars. “Wouldn't kill you to relax for two seconds.”

“Actually it might,” Jason said, but he put his binoculars down for long enough to grab the burger Dick had brought him. Jason stayed stiff, watching the building across from him with the kind of stern diligence that would probably make Bruce proud. Dick’d been there himself, thrown himself so deeply into a case that he'd been up for days, obsessing about the details of a case too much to bother taking care of himself. Still, even if he knew he made the same bad decisions himself he could still be bothered at Jason internalizing Bruce’s bad habits too. With a sigh Dick made a mental note to come by later with coffee or something and turned to leave.

“Good luck with your stalking. Oh, and before I forget,” he said, and then before he could change his mind he dropped two kisses on the top of Jason's head. Jason stared up at, an eyebrow raised.

Dick shrugged. “Two for flinching.”

 

***

Things had been going shockingly well between them for the past several months but Dick was still surprised to come home and find Jason on his couch, eating his leftover Chinese food. Dick probably should’ve felt more annoyed for the sake of his food but he was tired, and this was the first time he’d seen Jason mask-less in a while, which for some reason was putting him in a good mood. So instead he plopped down on the couch next to him and grabbed the container of orange chicken. After several quiet minutes of eating Jason finally spoke up.

“You should probably start eating better,” Jason said. “This was like the only thing in your fridge.”

“It’s not like I’ve got the free-time to do actual cooking.”

“Yeah well, it wouldn’t kill you to buy a vegetable.”

“There’s broccoli in this orange chicken, does that count?” Jason shook his head. “Fine, fine, I admit it, I’m kind of a mess. But what about you? Are you going to tell me the scourge of the underworld always eats right?”

“Hell yeah I do. It helps to be able to make a meal more complicated than toast.”

“You know how to cook?”

“I used to have Alfred teach me recipes back in the day and I kept practicing afterwards," Jason said. Dick felt oddly touched before Jason continued with, "Since you and Bruce are shit at it I figured it’d be nice to be better than both you at something. Spite is a powerful motivator.”

“You see, when you say things like that I have no idea if they’re true or not because learning a skill purely out of spite sounds like something you’d do.” Jason shrugged, looking deeply satisfied with himself. Dick laughed and shook his head. “So he can cook, huh? I can't believe Damian still thinks I'm out of your league.”

“That's because he's your tiny guard dog. I'm pretty sure if I tried to actually go out with you he'd supervise our dates to protect your honor.”

“Are you going to ask me out on a date?” Dick said with a smirk.

“Fuck no. You better ask me out. And I'm expecting flowers too. And a carriage ride. I wanna feel like a 17th century court lady.”

“Aren't you like 22? That's spinster age in Austen years.”

“Would you look at that," Jason said, gesturing at him with his fork, "he's read a book.”

“Uh, yeah actually,” Dick said. “Alfred said you'd really been into Austen and I guess I figured I wanted to see what all of the fuss was about.” It'd mostly been on a whim - he'd overheard Bruce and Alfred talking about what they were planning to get Jason for Christmas and then Dick had just started asking questions. Reading through most of Alfred’s collection of Romantic novels had been mostly boring in Dick’s opinion but the thought of having something else to make fun of Jason with hadn't sounded bad at the time.

Jason put down his food, staring at Dick like he’d just grown a second head. “You read a bunch of Austen for me?”

“Yeah. I don't think it's my thing though. Think I'll stick to Stephen King since Steph likes to try to spoil all of the end...oh shit, you're blushing.”

“Shut up,” Jason said, pushing himself to his feet. But Dick wasn't joking this time, he was blushing up to his ears. It wasn't subtle either. He hadn't seen Jason turn that color since he was a kid.

“Just remembered - gotta go. Do something.” He jammed his helmet back on his head and climbed out the window.

“For the record this means I win!” Dick yelled after him. He heard the heard the distance sound of Jason's boots hitting the ground, and then nothing. With a sigh he stared down at Jason's abandoned food, thinking about how his face looked when it was flushed.

He frowned. “At least I think it does.”

 

***

Jason stared down at him, hands braced against the brick wall on either side of Dick’s head. Dick chewed his gum loudly, pretending not to be bothered by Jason standing in his personal space and glaring down at him. It was late, even by their standards and Dick felt sweaty and sore in his uniform, but it was hard to feel tired with 200 pounds of Jason Todd sizing him up with a grin.

Despite all that he kept perfectly still even when Jason grabbed the bottom of his chin, tilting it upwards as he leaned in. He didn't move when Jason was close enough to feel his breath on his own lips, and see where his mask scrunched up with the tightening of his brow. It wasn't until Jason's nose was brushing his own, his grin firm and just shy of frightening that Jason finally stopped.

“Really Dick? Nothing?”

“Nope.” He popped his gum as obnoxiously as he could. “Honestly I’ve had more sexual charged moments at the dentist.”

“Uh-huh,” Jason said. Dick kept his arms crossed and his body relaxed even as Jason reached up to pull his own mask off and Dick could suddenly see the intense focus in his eyes. The tension.

Dick popped his gum again, trying to hide how much he sweating. Jason trying to mess with him for the sake of their game was one thing but Jason staring at him like he planned on eating him alive was something else entirely. Dick, being the responsible older sibling that he was, owed it to the both of them to stop things from going any further. And to stop staring at Jason’s lips. And to not think about if he could make Jason blush again.

“Anyway,” Dick said, “I think it’s fair to say this round goes to me.”

“Like hell it does.” And then Jason genuinely surprised him by pulling him by the back of the neck into an actual kiss. Well, this wasn’t his fault. He’d tried to handle this all responsibly. He hadn’t initiated the kiss in the least. Not that Dick would really call it much of a kiss. Teeth together, lips gentle. Dick rolled his eyes. He knew when a person wasn't putting their all into a kiss and Jason’s just screamed “you gonna end this thing already?” A kiss like that wasn't about to knock him out of the game.

Maybe Jason did have a competitive steak. But Dick had one too.

With a hand on his back Dick managed to maneuver Jason around so his back was to the wall. A hand on his waist to pull Jason against him and the scrap of his teeth on his bottom lip. Jason finally opened up and Dick let himself sink into the kiss. Somewhere in the back of his head Dick was still vaguely thinking about the concept of “winning” but he also prided himself on being an excellent kisser, so trying to get a reaction out of Jason was forefront. But Jason was apparently intent on being completely silent, his hand light on the back of Dick’s neck. And Dick was just starting to think that maybe he was taking all of this too far when Jason was pressing back into him, arousal so obvious against Dick’s thigh that he moaned loudly.

And that was that. Jason jumped and pulled away and Dick covered his mouth with a hand, both of them staring away from each other.

“Right,” Jason said quietly, backing himself towards the ledge. “I’ll just...”

"Yup. Yeah. You do that," Dick said, awkwardly sticking a thumbs up in Jason's direction. When Jason was gone Dick buried his face in his hands and screamed. 

 

***

It was rare these days for Dick to be up before noon but since he was staying at the mansion he thought it might be rude to inconvenience Alfred by getting up later than breakfast was usually served. A pipe had burst in his apartment and, at Alfred's insistence, he'd ended up crashing in his old room. He managed to drag himself out of bed by a little after ten and made his way down to the kitchen, guided mostly by the smell of coffee and pancakes since his tired eyes didn’t want to open properly.

He was halfway through scooping sugar into his coffee when he noticed Jason sitting on the counter right next to him and almost dropped his cup.

“Jesus Christ, Jay!” Dick said, a hand over his chest. “Wear a bell or something!”

“I’ve been right in front of you the entire time, Sleeping Beauty. It’s not my fault you aren’t up yet.”

Dick looked Jason over sleepily. He was leaning his head against a cabinet and his left arm was in a sling. He was also giving him an odd half-lidded stare. “What’s all that?”

“Alfred dug a bunch of bullets outta me a minute ago and now he wants me to stay for breakfast. Something about not driving home when I've got painkillers and an empty stomach.”

He briefly considered asking some follow up questions but if Jason was well enough to quip at him he probably wouldn’t want Dick trying to mother him. “So are Bruce and Damian - ?”

“Unfortunately still awake,” came Damian’s voice from the door. He was followed by a haggard looking Bruce who acknowledged both of them with a vague grunt, and Alfred several steps behind them. Dick backed away from Jason as casually as he could. He’d been getting into the habit of standing closer to Jason than normal.

“Long night?” Dick asked.

“Mm,” Bruce said, reaching for one of the plates on the kitchen table. 

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Dick took a seat across from Bruce and Damian, trying not to smile as he watched the two of them sleepily shove food into their mouths. Jason sat down next to him with a coffee cup in his free hand and joined him in watching Bruce and Damian eat.

“Kinda like watching the Discovery Channel,” Jason said, ignoring the matching glares he received. He snickered quietly. “Thank god for painkillers.”

Dick shrugged, and took a sip of his coffee. Truth be told the entire scene felt a bit surreal to Dick - the four of them having breakfast at the mansion like it was a normal thing; Alfred cooking an extra batch of pancakes, Jason in casual clothes looking disheveled and a little loopy, the fact that Dick wasn’t wearing pants and no one had seemed to notice. It was a strange morning.

“Case went pretty well, don’t you think Bruce-ter?” Jason said, stretching. When he dropped his arm his hand landed directly on Dick’s thigh. Okay, so one person had noticed. Apparently the “not-in-front of Bruce” rule wasn’t in effect today.

Bruce continued shoveling down but made a small sound of affirmation. He and Damian were both very focused on their food. Dick carefully brushed Jason’s hand off his thigh. It wasn’t as though he didn’t want to be touching Jason right now. In fact since their kiss he’d been constantly thinking about when he’d get to have his hands on Jason again, it was just that groping Jason in front of Bruce was a line that he was pretty sure he wasn't ever going to be ready to cross

Jason grinned and went back to his coffee but really that didn't make it any better. He didn't realize how addicted he'd become to casually touching Jason until it wasn't an option. Their relationship had never been this close before but god if he wasn't feeling starved.

Jason's knee brushed his as he swung his leg back and forth. Dick really had no idea if it was intentional or if he was just that out of it but if he kept doing it he was going to end up with Dick’s tongue down his throat no matter who was around.

“Ouch! What the hell, bat brat?”Jason pulled away, rubbing his shin. Dick silently took back every rude thing he'd ever thought about Damian, the kid was clearly an angel.

Damian forcefully stabbed a piece of fruit with his fork. “My apologies Todd. Perhaps if you kept your limbs to yourself I wouldn't have kicked you.”

“I'll put my foot up your ass, how's that for keeping my limbs to myself?"

Bruce abruptly pulled away from the table. “That's enough of that. I'm off to bed. And so are you Damian." He lifted Damian out of his chair by the back of his collar. "Alfred - “

“I’ve already cancelled all your meetings for the day, Sir.”

“Good,” he said, rubbing his forehead. Behind him Damian’s attempt at scowling at Jason was ruined by him clearly struggling not to yawn. “Jason, you should go get some rest. And Dick?”

Dick looked up with he hoped was a neutral, innocent expression. “Yeah Bruce?”

“Put some pants on.”

“...Kay”

Jason started laughing as soon as Bruce was out of sight, pressed his forehead against Dick’s shoulder and then immediately fell asleep, mostly upright at the kitchen table.

 

***

The end of the week brought Dick two miracles: 1) the water damage done to his apartment had been cleaned up and 2) Bruce hadn’t once mentioned Jason or given Dick any indication that he had any idea that there was something going on with them. So by Friday he was packing up his stuff and trying to sneak onto his bike before he was forced into having an actual conversation with Bruce. He ended up making it all the way to the Batcave before disaster struck.

“If you're planning to meet Jason,” Bruce said, his voice drifting over from the command chair froze Dick in place, “make sure he takes it easy if he's trying to patrol.”

Dick cleared his throat. Well so much for sneaking out of the manor. “Uh, sure. If I run into him I'll make sure he only strangles people with his good arm.”

“That probably won't be necessary,” Bruce said, not looking away from the screen in front of him. “As far as I can tell Red Hood hasn't killed anyone in months. I imagine your relationship is having a positive influence on him.”

Dick felt himself break out into a cold sweat. Should he run for? Beg for forgiveness? No, he was an adult, he could act like an idiot with whoever he wanted to. He wasn't 16 and sneaking off during patrol to flirt with Babs. He was a grown man - making the mature choice to flirt with his adoptive brother whenever Bruce wasn't around.

“We-we’re not dating,” he managed.

“I didn't say you were dating, Dick.”

“Good,” Dick said, nodding to himself. “I mean it's purely just physical. That is - it's totally innocent. Maybe not innocent - "

“Dick.”

“Sure, maybe I wouldn't mind dating all that much, but you know Jason. He's definitely just in this for the fun of it -”

“I very much doubt that.”

“Besides you know how I get when I like someone!" Dick said, finding that he was unable to stop. "I'm way too overbearing or I'm so wrapped in how I feel that I don't think about long-term complications or if the person I like is going to shoot someone if we break up. And - and,” he took a deep breath. “Did you say that you don't think Jason is messing with me?”

Bruce sighed, rubbing his temple. “I think the two of you can sort this out on your own. Having The Talk when you were a kid is about as involved as I want to be in your romantic life. But...this is Jason. And he clearly likes you.” Bruce dropped his hand, giving Dick the full weight of his glare. “So don't mess up.”

Being on the receiving end of Bruce’s “don't mess with my kids” face was a new and terrifying experience for him. Dick suddenly felt very sorry for everyone he’d ever dated. But at the same time - “You're telling _me_ not to mess up? Me? You're kidding right?”

“My son is dating an older man with a notorious playboy reputation. Why wouldn't I be concerned?”

Dick opened and closed his mouth. “Holy crap Bruce, are you messing with me?”

Bruce’s glare softened and Dick was deeply disturbed to find that he was almost smiling. He swung back around in his chair.

“Have a good night Dick.”

Dick nodded numbly. He was being threatened but at the same time he was also being approved of. Dick was surprised to find that he was relieved to hear that - which was absurd because he wasn’t dating Jason in the first place. Jason...who apparently liked him enough that even Bruce was commenting on it.

He hadn’t been planning to find Jason that night, despite what Bruce had clearly thought, but now it felt like he had to.

 

*****

In the end Dick decided the polite thing to do would be to wait until the end of his patrol and then swing by his apartment unannounced with a box of donuts. After a few solid minutes of knocking Jason greeted him with a sleepy glare but he accepted the box and didn't stop Dick from coming in with it. He had a serious case of bed head but his arm was out of its sling and, minus the scowl, he looked better.

“Painkillers wearing off?” Dick asked. He tried not to make it too obvious that he was looking around Jason’s apartment but he doubted it was working. He was weirdly organized and apparently didn’t believe in windows.

“My arm is fine it’s just four in the morning, you ass. If I don’t get my three hours I get bitchy.” Jason grabbed one of the jelly donuts and held the box out of Dick’s range. Dick followed him to his couch and flopped down next to him grinning.

“What the hell is up with you? Your face is more annoying than usual.”

“What, I can’t be in a good mood sometimes?”

“You're glowing, Dick-face.”

"I'm pregnant."

"Don't get cute with me."

“Okay, fine, I'm in a really good mood," Dick said. He'd wanted to breach the subject carefully but instead he came out with, "Hey, quick question: have you stopped killing people lately?”

Jason turned to him sharply, a bit of panic in his eyes. And then very quickly he said, “I like a challenge sometimes.”

“So it has nothing to do with me?”

“What would it?" Jason said, looking away. "I'm sure I hate that stupid self-righteous face you make around murderers as much as the next guy but I'm not gonna change my entire life to avoid it.” He flicked a sprinkle at Dick’s face. “That's it.”

Well that was definitely a lie. _Holy crap_ , Dick thought, _he actually gave up killing for me._ For their relationship. Whatever it was.

“What?" Jason said, scooting away from him. "Stop staring.”

“I'm not staring,” Dick said, continuing to stare. “But you know considering that we've basically got the world's longest platonic cuddling streak going I didn't think me looking at you would weird you out.”

“Uh-uh. This right here? It's you trying to cuddle my emotions. That's way grosser than making out with you.”

“You're official admitting defeat then?"

"I didn't say that," Jason said, licking icing off of his thumb. It was refreshing to not bother pretending he wasn't staring. Slowly, Jason pulled his thumb away from his mouth, a faint smile forming on his lips. "It's probably too early to stop now.”

“Is it?” Dick asked.

“You’re still in the lead as far as I can tell. I can admit you got me pretty good with that kiss but that was because you caught me off guard."

"You don't really seem off guard now."

“Guess not," Jason said. And then he was leaning slowly into Dick’s space, licking his lips. Dick definitely wasn't bothered by Jason's breath tickling his lips and heat radiating off of his body. No, he was the opposite of bothered by this. And it'd taken him way too long to figure that out. "You really shouldn't be trying to win anything against me, Big Blue.”

“What can I say,” Dick said, “I've got a competitive streak.” And then he was the one closing the gap between them, yanking Jason down by shirt so he could get deeper into his mouth. Licking his lips and biting where he licked.

"Wow Jason," Dick said when he finally pulled away "you're awfully good at kissing dudes when you try. It's almost like you're not straight."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Dick..."

“And wow, I'm pretty good at this too. Wonder what that could possibly mean. Think we should keep playing this is a big, funny, "no homo" game until we figure it out?" He felt Jason's hands on his thighs and followed along when Jason pulled him onto his lap.

"Yeah, this is fucking stupid." He upended the two of them onto the floor and went straight to work on his jeans. Dick wanted to be concerned about Jason's arm but then he was shoving his hand down Dick's pants he figured Jason probably didn't need worrying about.

"You know," Dick started, only to be cut off by a groan as Jason got his fingers around him. "You know, I think we just won Tim a lot of money."

"Don't care," Jason said, kissing at the side of Dick's throat. The floor was cold and Dick let Jason pull his shirt off.

“Really I think literally everyone figured it out before us - "

"Before you."

"Us,"

"No Dick, seriously," Jason said, pulling off his own shirt. "I was ready to go before you started trying to butter me up with beers."

"Fine," Dick said. "But I think even Bruce approves of us."

Jason pulled away, leveling him with a stare. “Thank god, the question of if our adoptive father is okay with us boning was keeping me up at night. Seriously, can we move on? I'm losing wood over here.”

Dick hummed, reaching up roughly grope Jason through his pants. "Liar."

 

*****

Jason complained about as much as he could but eventually he let Dick cover his eyes and guide him blindly down the street in front of his apartment. He made it as difficult as possible by trying to elbow Dick every couple of feet, but Dick was determined enough to ignore the jabs for the sack of a good surprise. Even if Jason was trying his hardest not to cooperate.

 "Stop wiggling Jay," Dick said, trying to keep his hands over Jason's eyes. Jason continued ignoring him and tilting his head to the left and right.

"I'm not a fan of surprises," he grumbled.

"Yeah well, this is gonna be a good one," Dick said. Again.

"The last person who said that to me was Harley Quinn. And that was right before she threw an exploding pie at me - oh  _fuck_!" Jason went wide eyed for a second when Dick finally let him go and then he immediately tried to run away. But Dick was prepared and he didn't get far before Dick threw himself at him and caught him in a headlock.

"Easy, little bro. Where are you running off to?" Dick asked with a grin. It'd taken him a couple of favors but they'd been more than worth it to rent out a horse drawn carriage for the evening. It all was very picturesque, in Dick's opinion, white horses and a driver in period appropriate clothing. He was proud of himself.

"You didn't," Jason said.

"It was your idea Jay."

"I was joking!"

"I know," Dick said. His face was starting to hurt from smiling so much. Jason's on the other hand was a satisfying red from behind his hands. "So does this mean - "

"Yeah, you fucking win, you asshat," Jason said before shoving him over. "You're the king of being an embarrassing homoerotic dick."


End file.
